Name to a Face: Jim Buterbaugh

You've seen Jim Buterbaugh all over town, we're sure: he's active with the Whitehall Community Center and the Veterans, he's at the Cardwell School maintaining the building often, he's one of the faces of Whitehall's Tactical Civics group. Soon he will be on the ballot, as he plans to run for County Commissioner in 2022. He's a man about town.

Jim's childhood revolved around travel. Born into a military family, his life began in Las Vegas before his father was stationed in Germany, then to Lincoln, Nebraska. Upon his parent's divorce, he found himself in Colorado with his mother, first in Wheat Ridge, then Lakewood, and then Evergreen, eventually settling in Eagle, Colorado, a town similar to Whitehall. During his school years, he would walk along the river to hunt and fish, intentionally missing the bus; school was not his thing.

Jim worked in a sawmill stacking lumber, then at a Sinclair Eagle truck stop before joining the Coast Guard. He was stationed in Juno, Alaska for almost three years before he found himself once again on the move, this time to one of the largest boats the small waters in Oklahoma could fit.

Upon leaving the Coast Guard, he returned to Eagle, where he worked as a mechanic. But it wasn't long before he was on the road once more, this time to Seattle, Washington. He jokes that his 14 year stay in Seattle was due to a lark of gas in the tank and a need for money.

Jim eventually found himself in West Yellowstone, Montana, where he worked as a stagecoach maintenance man. got a job as a stagecoach maintenance man. A quick jaunt returned him to Seattle for about a year, before he made his way back to Montana in 1989. Originally planning to reapply for his old stagecoach position, he found the company had been sold; this brought him to the Whitehall/Cardwell area, as he found work at the LaHood Hotel.

He was introduced to Whitehall because of its proximity to LaHood and he found jobs with Bobby Hermann and Dr. Gayle Sacry, where he assisted in building the Whitehall Medical Center's addition. A Jack of all trades, he's worked for the Country Skillet at Town Pump as well as freelanced building.

Jim and his wife Kerry have made a life and home in Whitehall. Jim has three children, a son and two daughters, who bring him joy, especially as they have their own children and he gets to play Grandpa.

He loves our community and tries to look out for its best interests, which is why he will be seeking the Jefferson County Commissioner position next year. Our Whitehall community reminds him of Eagle, Colorado, with its mountains and its friendly people, and he wants to help keep the town's small-town feel intact.